You will be able to get super fast video encoding out with Intels new Ivy Bridge CPU soon.
If you are lucky enough to use a video editing program that takes advantage of Intels on board Quick Sync engine then you will be able to render out H.264 files for internet or Blu_Ray straight from the timeline super fast.
Current i7 Sandy Bridge CPU users say it takes them about 24 minutes to render out a file from a 60 minute HD timeline.
The new Ivy Bridge should get that down under 20 minutes easy.

I've just rendered out 9 x 44min files from ProRes to H264 and it took all week!

I guess my mac is a little ancient now as it is nealy 5 years old, but that is a HUGE difference.

Simon1 week? That's like a holiday!

Unfortunately, Macs don't have anything equivalent in processing H.264. Even CUDA in Adobe 5.5/6 on a Quadro 4000 + 12 core processors can't beat it because it's a dedicated H.264 encoder chip in the Intel built-in GPU. And it's not like Mac Pros will be getting updates anytime soon, IF they are even updated at all.Intel Quick Sync is the fastest encoder for H.264/mp4. Adobe/Intel have a beta plug-in that quasi works on WIN7, Apple's own Compressor still uses Qmaster with OpenCL and doesn't show a roadmap for using the built-in processor. It's probably because of the code bridge necessary to use a discrete GPU with the Intel GPU, and how a program chooses and/or combine it for encoding.Of course, encoding and realtime is only part of the equation(albeit a big part). UI intuitiveness, efficiency of being able to do things like layers, efx, text/graphics motion etc are all part of an editing suite.

Drew
Moderator
"Journalism is what someone else does not want printed, everything else is public relations."

"I was born not knowing, and have only had a little time to change that here and there.

Unfortunately, Macs don't have anything equivalent in processing H.264. Even CUDA in Adobe 5.5/6 on a Quadro 4000 + 12 core processors can't beat it because it's a dedicated H.264 encoder chip in the Intel built-in GPU. And it's not like Mac Pros will be getting updates anytime soon, IF they are even updated at all.Intel Quick Sync is the fastest encoder for H.264/mp4. Adobe/Intel have a beta plug-in that quasi works on WIN7, Apple's own Compressor still uses Qmaster with OpenCL and doesn't show a roadmap for using the built-in processor. It's probably because of the code bridge necessary to use a discrete GPU with the Intel GPU, and how a program chooses and/or combine it for encoding.

All of my Macs have BootCamp/Windows XP or 7 installed, so that I can run PC-only video and 3D software on them in addition to the Mac apps - best of both world. Are you suggesting that Intel makes a Mac and a PC version of their i7, i5, and i3 processors so booting an Intel Mac into Windows I still won't be able to take full advantage of the Sandy-Bridge features now or the Ivy-Bridge features in the future?

Are you suggesting that Intel makes a Mac and a PC version of their i7, i5, and i3 processors so booting an Intel Mac into Windows I still won't be able to take advantage of some of the Sandy Bridge features now or the Ivy Bridge features in the future?

you need a processor with integrated GPU aka I7 2600K where the k indicates the integrated GPU. The mainboard must have the GPU connectors onboard. Otherwise you need a third part sw like lucid virtu.

GV commercial choices are unexplicable. For the official presentation ofthe sandy bridge platform Intel used Edius showing the hardware h264 encoding. Now if you go on the Intel quick sync page, Edius is not even cited in the list of sw using this technology.

@Wagsy with 800$ you get the entire pc. I got a i7 2600k, Asrock mb h67, 8 gb of RAM, a cheap ati GPU and a 90gb sd drive and a 2tb disk

you need a processor with integrated GPU aka I7 2600K where the k indicates the integrated GPU. The mainboard must have the GPU connectors onboard. Otherwise you need a third part sw like lucid virtu.

Thanks for the explanation!

What type of real-world performance difference one will notice between say an i7 2600k and i7 2600 without overclocking? 10%, 20% or a lot more? Will overclocking still cause the machine to crash more often nowadays?

Yep it sure is, watch this video using a Sandy Bridge CPU and QuickSync.

Very cool, will look for this type of hardware/software features when upgrading in the future!

All of my Macs have BootCamp/Windows XP or 7 installed, so that I can run PC-only video and 3D software on them in addition to the Mac apps - best of both world. Are you suggesting that Intel makes a Mac and a PC version of their i7, i5, and i3 processors so booting an Intel Mac into Windows I still won't be able to take full advantage of the Sandy-Bridge features now or the Ivy-Bridge features in the future?

I believe only the Mac Book Air/Pro have the Intel HD 3000GPU which is the Quick Sync engine. I actually never tried to see if Quick Sync worked.... something to test!

Edit:

It does work with the beta 6.5 Edius. Interesting.

Drew
Moderator
"Journalism is what someone else does not want printed, everything else is public relations."

"I was born not knowing, and have only had a little time to change that here and there.

What type of real-world performance difference one will notice between say an i7 2600k and i7 2600 without overclocking? 10%, 20% or a lot more? Will overclocking still cause the machine to crash more often nowadays?

They are exactly the same processor with or without the integrated Intel GPU. So there's difference from the CPU point of view. You could OC both but it depends on the MB chipset you have. For OC, the Z68 is the best.Although OC is safe within a certain range, key factors for a stable and fast editing setup are mainly GPU and I/O subsystem (SD disk for OS and maybe RAID0 configuration for data disks).With the Quick Sync technology, Intel turned the tables unleashing the CPU power (actually the integrated GPU) for a demanding task as encoding/decoding. Also if you have a powerful discrete GPU the MB is able to route this task internally.

QS was launched with the Sandy Bridge platform. Nvidia and AMD were taken unaware and they took one year to implement something similar. The AMD solution is still not working while the Nvidia solution (NVEnc) works but only on High End GPU like the new GTX680. In the meantime Itel updated its technology: the Ivy Bridge platform has a new version that again sweep away the competing solutions:

@M43user -$800 that's because of the $300 Motherboard I want, here in Australia we get ripped off big time for stuff.

Still on a old set-up (Q6600) here, I am rendering out H.264 files for the net all the time so this is going to speed up my work flow quite a bit.
Guys with Sandy Bridge set-ups are getting 4 layers of native AVCHD real-time, so should be better with the new Ivy Bridge.
Looks like they run hotter than the Sandy Bridges when overclocked though, time will tell.

Update.
Well $700 later I now have the new Ivy Bridge (8 core CPU ) running with EDIUS 6 up from an old Q6600 quad CPU.
Here is what I can do now just using single SATA drives.

4 Tracks of Native Canon (DSLR)1920/1080 25p video files playing back in real time in pips at full resolution on the timeline.

Rendering out from a 60 second Native Canon (DLSR) 1920/1080 25p timeline with colour correction and graphic- logo plus audio track.
With quick sync turned off it took 2 minutes and 40 seconds to render out the 1920/1080 25p @ CBR 12mbps for the internet.
With Quick Sync on it took 30 seconds :-)
Quality of the two output files was perfect.
To render out a PAL 720/576 MPEG2 @ CBR 8mbps with AC3 audio for a DVD it took 30 seconds. :-)

Photoshop and Lightrroom are super fast with images too.
The computer will play 3 x Native Canon files on my 3 screens at full screen at the same time too lol

Yes if you have a Sandy Bridge then not much in it but if you are using an older CPU then its huge.

Here are some more tests, I have to get a larger fan as overclocking seems to heat it up pretty quick.

Made from time lapse images, I dumped a 5184/3456 Canopus HQX 25p, (406 mbps) file to the 1920/1080 25p timeline and zoomed in to fill the width.
It can play it real time just, CPU is maxed out though, not bad from single SATA drive.

Next I dumped 6 x HDV 1440/1080 files and one native Canon 1920/1080 mov ontop and put them all into pips.
Timeline played it back in real time lol
All 8 cores maxed out at about 94% so no point in going RAID really.

Rendering out H.264 files is about 50% or more faster than real time. IE 1 minute of edited timeline takes less than 30 seconds to render out a file.
My work speed has just increased heaps now, you can not beat if for quick turn around of projects.
Feel sorry for those left in the land of transcoding to other hard drive sapping editing codecs :-)

Hey Jonny, cause it looks good and you are paying for that little APPLE logo. :-)I will make a screen video of it doing its things when I can.

I get my stuff from http://pccasegear.comThey are very good and stuff has arrived at my door the next day some times up here :-)Its seems to be very easy to overclock, the chip is now running at 4Ghtz with the stock fan easy.Going to get a V8 cool master should get me high 4's then.